BLACK LIBRARY ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF BEST-SELLING FANTASY WRITER, WILLIAM KING

William King has signed a major new deal with the Black Library, for a trilogy based on the high elf characters Tyrion and Teclis.

Twin brothers Tyrion and Teclis are the greatest heroes of an age, and their like will never be seen again. Prince Tyrion’s skill with a blade unmatched by any living swordsmen, whilst Teclis is the most powerful mage of his generation. Set over two hundred years before the current Warhammer timeline, the new trilogy tells an origin story of these two phenomenal champions.

Head of Black Library, George Mann, said of the deal: “I’m overjoyed to be welcoming Bill King back to the Black Library, particularly with such an exciting and auspicious series. Bill has a real flair for a good story and his writing really brings the Warhammer world to life. I know people are going to adore these books.”

William King was born in Stranraer, Scotland, and is one of Black Library’s best-selling authors, with sales in excess of half a million books. He started writing for Games Workshop in 1988, and later he worked in the design studio. His swords and sorcery series Gotrek & Felix and his Space Wolf novels have become a staple in the Black Library range. His short fiction has appeared in Interzone, Zenith, and a Year’s Best SF collection. He currently lives in Prague.

The deal was conducted with agent John Jarrold, and the first novel in the trilogy will be published in 2011.

Puffin are very excited to announce that we have acquired two fantasy novels in a new series entitled Wereworld by British author and artist Curtis Jobling. Shannon Park, Executive Editor at Puffin secured world rights for the series from the John Jarrold Literary Agency, for an undisclosed five-figure sum. The Wereworld novels are due for publication in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

WEREWORLD follows the story of fifteen-year-old Drew, a shepherd’s son, as he comes of age and discovers he’s the last of the long line of Werewolves, and rightful (yet reluctant) ruler of the land of Lyssia, where lycanthrope ‘Werelords’ reign. Before long he’s hurtling headlong into an epic journey of fantasy and horror, from one deadly encounter to the next, meeting exotic Werelords at every turn as he’s drawn inexorably towards his destiny.

‘When Curtis approached me with the first volume of this series, I could immediately see the strength of his imagination and invention,’ said John Jarrold. ‘Much respect to Shannon for seeing how wonderful the idea was and getting it through the system at Puffin, including giving editorial guidance even before she could formally present it in-house.’

Shannon Park says, ‘I am so thrilled to sign up this series, which blends themes of traditional fantasy and contemporary horror within an action-packed story. Werewolves are hot property right now, and this series has huge appeal for the 10+ fantasy market.’

Curtis Jobling designed the Bafta winning BOB THE BUILDER and is also the creator of FRANKENSTEIN’S CAT, the BBC’s hit children’s animation series based upon his book of the same name. In addition he has numerous shows in development with Disney, the BBC and others.

The first novels in the Wereworld series are due for publication in 2011 and 2012.

Sounds interesting, right? I’ll take a look at this when the first book is released and let you all know if the kids’ll enjoy it (I’m a big kid, after all). 🙂

I’ve seen a few of Black Library’s fantasy titles in stores (and when I say a few, that’s what I mean – here in SA, most people know the PC games and don’t even know about the table-top games and the books, terrible I know!) and I’ve always been intrigued by them. The one thing that always stands out is a) the cover artwork, which is always nothing short of incredible, and b) the descriptions on the back. When you read the descriptions you know you’re being given a glimpse into something altogether different – and that’s one of the things that makes the Warhammer universe -be it the SF or fantasy side of things- so damn cool! There’s nothing else quite like it. 🙂

Being lucky enough to have received a box of awesome Black Library goodies from Black Library (thanks again! You know who you are!), I spent about an hour checking out each book, admiring the covers and salivating over the tales I was on the verge of reading, and believe me, I struggled myself thin trying to choose where to start! I had already picked up Chapter War about a week earlier, so I had another look at Heldenhammer and thought, Yep, this is the one.

Now, it takes a lot to hook me from the get-go; either the first sentence has to be bold and brilliant or subtly amazing (or some combination of the two, probably) or I have to get the sense that something about the way the words flow in my mind, as I read them, is paving the way for something very special. Once I have that little something, I usually really hate having to put the book down to go and do such mundane and useless things such as eat or sleep, etc. 🙂

Heldenhammer, the first book in The Sigmar Trilogy, is about one man recognizing that humanity is on the knife-edge of extinction, and the choices that he makes, and, at times, is forced to make, to ensure that humanity stands together and survives. That man is Sigmar.

What caught me, from the beginning, about Heldenhammer was the style that it had been written in. I immediately had the sense that I was reading a legend, or a story that had been preserved in it’s original tongue and handed down through the generations, such things as the cadence of the words and the mannerisms of the first speaker being carried through. It was weird, because it felt right. You know how some authors try and inject a quality of antiquity into their writing that just doesn’t seem right? It niggles, and it doesn’t feel true. Well, that didn’t happen in Heldenhammer. Not only did the style that Graham used suit the tale, but enhanced it, too. It really felt as if you were lucky enough to witness the birth of a legend, not just be a spectator who witnessed all the important bits.

The characters in Heldenhammer, too, are expertly done – every character has a host of deeper layers, so that, for example, the Sigmar you meet in the beginning of the tale is the same Sigmar at tales’ end, but you definitely have the sense of having grown with the character -after all, I was the same Dave when I started reading Heldenhammer, but the Dave I am now has a few extra layers (hopefully)- and it’s not only Sigmar who is allowed to grow like this; almost every character has more than a few surprises in store for readers, and those who like making predictions about where the characters will end up might be surprised at what happens! 🙂

And battles? What would Warhammer be without battles? 🙂 Graham delivers!

There are a host of important battles and skirmishes throughout the book, and in each one, you’re right there! Okay, there’s no arterial greenskin blood spraying your face *go on, cringe if you must* but you feel that fear and adrenaline and hear the shouts and screams and clash of weapons. Graham also makes sure that each battle is different, not the same slightly rehashed tactics and set-pieces used throughout, and each battle in which Sigmar takes part doubles as a test that he must go through in order to learn what he has to know before he is ready to found the Empire. The host of other characters, too, offer moments of brevity and humor, some working for the dark side 🙂 of course, but all serve to give the world that Sigmar inhabits a welcome sense of depth and realism that really makes the reader feel at home in the tale.

Also, this aimed at those who want to be authors and, more importantly, story-tellers, take heed: this would be an excellent book to read, re-read and then study!

One thing is for sure though – Book 2 in The Sigmar Trilogy, Empire, is sure to see the proverbial shit hit the fan, and I can’t wait! 🙂

8/10

Check out Heldenhammer on the Black Library website, and order your copies here: if you’re in South Africa, if you’re in the US, if you’re in the UK.

Other than playing Dawn of War 1 with a friend about 4 or 5 months before reading this book, I had never really paid much attention to the Warhammer universe; a shame, right? I totally agree! 🙂 This same friend bought Dawn of War 2 for himself and was showing me the game, explaining the universe to me and the different chapters of Space Marines (still can’t decide whether I like the Ultramarines or the Blood Ravens more), not to mention much much more! And as he told me about this huge universe I realized that I had been sitting with my head in the ground – so I decided to get myself a Warhammer novel ASAP (while waiting for a favour from an awesome guy and an awesome company 😉 ) and start making my way into the 40K universe. 🙂 Nick Kyme’s book grabbed my attention with its length and the blurb on the back, so I started reading it…

As an intro to the Warhammer mythos (40K, I should add, since there is SF- and Fantasy-Warhammer, and 40K is SF) Assault on Black Reach is, in my opinion, a perfect place to jump aboard.

There is just enough history, back-story and worldbuilding to satisfy a newbie like me as well as those more versed in the Warhammer 40K universe, something that must have been pretty difficult to do considering the length of the novel, and though I haven’t played the boardgame (and probably never will, considering the extent of Warhammer-related products in South Africa, this blogger laments) it seems like Nick also did an excellent job translating the events from that game into the novel.

The action is fast-paced and incredibly brutal (Warhammer is definitely not for kids!) with a level of tension maintained throughout that most novels battle to achieve, and to be honest, I was expecting a 300-type of story: the Space Marines that land on Black Reach number around 500, if I’m not mistaken, while the Orks number around 10000, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Nick had not taken this route – instead, the novel goes a long way to showing just how incredible these Space Marines are, and that odds such as what they face in this novel aren’t too much to contend with. 🙂 But it’s not all plain-sailing, believe me!

The Space Marines arrive to cleanse Black Reach of an Ork infestation, and as the action unfolds, many of the Marines begin questioning their purpose there and if they can, in fact, trust their leader to pursue the battle against the Orks on this front without it becoming a quest for personal glory; if this novel falls short in any way, it’s probably here:

The length of the book must have put a crimp in Nick’s efforts at characterization; I’m talking about the kind of characterization we’re used to where we are offered deeper windows into characters’ souls, growing (or not) as the characters do (or don’t), but Nick doesn’t do badly at all – the characters we meet have their motivations and come across as unique, reacting in their own way to situations brought up in the novel.

I definitely recommend this novel to fans of Warhammer (be it the boardgames, the PC-games or the novels) and to newbies like me looking to get hooked on and lost in a new universe – if you like your SF populated with great characters, interesting technology and epic events, then this will be for you! 🙂

7/10!

The next Warhammer 40K book that I will be reviewing is Ben Counter’s Chapter War! 🙂

For more info on Warhammer, don’t forget to check out what Black Library and Games Workshop have, and here’s a link to the Warhammer 40K wiki! 🙂

M.D. Thalmann, a novelist and freelance journalist with an affinity for satire and science fiction, lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, children, and ornery cats, reads too much and sleeps too little.